A short ceremony tomorrow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of Eve Carson, who was then UNC student body president.
During the ceremony, to be held in The Pit, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp will speak about Carson's role in the community. In addition, The Clef Hangers, a UNC a capella group, will perform James Taylor's song Carolina in My Mind, which was one of Carson's favorite songs.
"Tomorrow is going to be all about uplifting the campus and trying not to recreate the really somber mood we had last year," said UNC sophomore Hogan Medlin, a member of the Service North Carolina committee who is acting as a spokesperson for the event. "We want to give students a way to channel their emotions to do something productive that Eve would be proud of and Eve would want us to do."
The event will end with a request that students perform acts of service in Carson's memory, Medlin said.
To help students find service projects that interest them and to track their work, Service NC has set up a Web site, he added.
Service NC usually encourages service in a single week of March, but this year it will encourage student volunteering throughout the month in Carson's memory.
The idea of working to improve both the Chapel Hill community and the world has become Carson's legacy at UNC. Carson's passion for helping others was embodied in her response to the question "Why do you do what you do?" posed by a community art project.
Carson's answer, written on her hand two days before she was murdered: "I want any excuse to work with my classmates (and help them do what they want to do... because that's what I wanted to do.)"
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